Allow Escambia and Santa Rosa Children to watch the President
- by: Parents for an unbiased and balanced education in Florida
- recipient: Santa Rosa & Escambia County School Districts and Schools everywhere
"President Barack Obama will directly address millions of school children across the country in a 20-minute speech via TV broadcast, webcast and radio on Tuesday morning.
During the address, Obama will speak about persisting and succeeding in school, and challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
All students, teachers and school workers are invited to watch the historic moment, which will occur during school hours.
But by and large, students in Escambia and Santa Rosa county public schools will not be watching.
We do not let teachers just watch television. Its going to have to fit with what theyre teaching the children, said Escambia Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. in a district where our students struggle. We have bell-to-bell instruction, and we dont want to waste a single minute.
Thomas said the message will be recorded and reviewed by teachers. If the message can be fit into curriculum, teachers may submit a request to show the speech to students at a later date. He said some exceptions may be made for social studies classes to watch the speech live.
In Santa Rosa County, Bill Price, assistant superintendent of curriculum, said officials are still developing a plan but tentatively will follow the same course of action as Escambia County.
District officials said parents called schools all day Thursday to inquire or complain about the possibility of the speech airing during school hours.
I dont understand what the point is of him going into classrooms, especially the little ones, unless he wants to spread propaganda and let them think about how great he is, said Jean Cobb, 67, a former Escambia County teacher and mother to three children who passed through the school system. Parents should have the chance to review this or opt out.
Parents with concerns should contact their individual schools. Officials in both districts said parents would have the opportunity to opt their child out, in the event that a teacher decided to air the recorded speech in class.
Some students were upset to hear that they might miss out on a message intended for them.
CHes the president. Hes not just going to interrupt classes for no reason, said Pensacola High School senior Mariah Franklin, 17.
Deasia Green, 15, said she thinks that all students in every class should be able to view the live broadcast.
When the president was inaugurated they let us watch it, but now he%u2019s talking about school to us and we cant watch it, said the PHS freshman.
The Department of Education also provided lesson guides for teachers to create a class curriculum around the speech, recommending group discussion about the presidents message, ways to help their school and how to be successful in education
It really could be disrupting education, said Norma Jennings, grandmother to three A.K. Suter Elementary students. Fifteen minutes can really be a distraction if its not geared toward a social studies plan because they have to set it up and then talk about it after."
We feel that the very act of behaving this way is propaganda cast upon the children that trust you to give them ALL the information they need to know to nourish their ability to learn to think critically, and behave with respect towards those that don't think like we do. It is also a decidedly anti-establishment, and anti-democratic message with possible racist undertones attached to it.
We feel that our children should have the opportunity to partake in this historical event, and that it is much much more than "Just letting our teachers and students watch TV". Your students are allowed to watch noneducational videos as rewards, or not allowed to watch them as punishment. Yet, this, a historical live event by the President of this great country in which we live is being cut from the school's itinerary on Tuesday morning.
We want children everywhere to take part in this event, and if your policy isn't changed, we reserve the right to withhold our children from school on Tuesday, Sept. 8th, so they can watch the President's message from home, and may follow that act with other forms of retaliation.
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